Aedes

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus, a member of the Spondweni serocomplex, whose natural transmission cycle involves mainly vectors from the Aedes genus (A. furcifer, A. taylori, A. luteocephalus and A. africanus) and monkeys, while humans are occasional hosts. The illness is usually mild comprising symptoms lasting for several days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito. People usually don’t get sick enough to go to the hospital, and they very rarely die of Zika.…

with its climate and other factors, contact between Aedes and people is rare, unless acquired by someone coming to the U.S. as a traveller from a tropical vacation or immigrant from a too humid home, and still it is difficult to transmit once in the continental states. The largest dengue problem the U.S. faces is Puerto Rico, with the highest number of cases diagnosed in the U.S. (cdc.gov). The location has the perfect conditions for the Aedes…

Introduction Why are viruses causing such an impact on humans in recent times? H1N1, MERS, swine flu, Zika, chikungunya, one more virus with a strange name always appears to be popping up, threatening to grow into a pandemic. Quite a few of the pathogens that trigger deadly outbreaks are not entirely new viruses. Some of them have evolved with us for centuries. Nowadays, these viruses can travel and infect around the globe with larger efficiency and shorter times than ever before and when they…

dengue virus, yellow fever virus and West Nile virus (Plourde and Bloch, 2016). Zika virus is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus), other Aedes spp implicated in Zika virus infecetion, include Ae. Africanus and Ae. Hensilli. (Plourde and Bloch, 2016). “Aedes mosquitoes usually bite during the day, peaking during early morning and late afternoon/evening”. (WHO, 2016). Warm tropical and subtropical region is…

Zika At the beginning of 2015, there were few people that had heard of the Zika Virus. Those who had heard of it were not concerned about the impact the virus had on their daily lives. It was easily mistaken by the common flu, passing through the body’s system within a week. As scientists studied Zika, they discovered the severity of the long-term effects of the virus. By August, the Zika Virus was on every radio station, internet sites, and TV news broadcasts. Overnight, the World Health…

A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is a formal declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO). This statement designates (identify) a public health crisis of potentially global reach. If you are aware of it, you would probably know that it was declared only four times. All in the past 7 years. Starting with 2009 Swine flu, then both polio and Ebola in 2014, and last zika virus in 2016. So how these emergencies upraise? well I’m going to tell a short story, the zika…

Zika virus, a disease mainly spread through mosquitoes, is rapidly spreading throughout Latin America and many other countries, and is now threatening to spread widely throughout Northern America. With the threat of the Zika virus in America swiftly increasing, scientists, doctors, and political leaders are desperately searching for a solution to prevent a Zika epidemic. One possible solution that the U.S. FDA is now seriously considering is GMO mosquitoes, engineered by the Biotech Firm, Oxitec…

The Zika virus is a current global healthcare crisis. From 2007 to 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported documented Zika virus transmission in a total of 62 countries and territories (2016, April 7). Hennessey, Fischer, and Staples (2016) report Brazil had an estimated 440,000–1,300,000 alleged cases of Zika virus disease in 2015. The risk of the Zika virus has recently become a threat in the United States with 1,860 reported cases (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]…

In order to prevent a virus we must first learn its history; how it came about and where, we must then take into perspective how it is spread and then take preventative measures to ensure that the minimal amount of people are infected. A virus is simply defined as a non-living, infectious agent that must use a host cell in order to replicate. What makes these viruses so dangerous is that they’re numerous, and thus easy to spread and catch. This is not to say that every virus affects us, some…

Their invasion mostly likely causes economic or environmental harm, and could harm human health. One invader in particular is the Aedes albopictus, also known as the Asian tiger mosquito. The Asian tiger mosquito has a black body with white stripes…